Darren Watkins Jr., aka IShowSpeed, was recently invited to compete in the 2025 MLS All-Star Skills Challenge, part of the 2025 MLS All-Star Week held in Austin, Texas.
He appeared alongside professional players and former U.S. men’s national team stars in the event preceding the All-Star Game.
In the event, the 20-year-old streamer contested in two shooting challenges.
In the first challenge, Speed was asked to shoot from the penalty area into signs that had various points on them. The objective was to hit the sign and collect the respective points.
Speed managed to get 25 points in this event.
The second challenge was about making long passes into various targets, which were placed on podiums in a FIFA-esque style.
Speed only managed to get 10 points in this event.
In the event, he interacted with many players, particularly with Houston Dynamo 2’s goalkeeper Pedro Cruz, and even mingled with ex-Real Madrid defender Sergio Ramos, who captains Liga MX club Monterrey and as a result was present as part of the All-Star game.
But heads were really turned when, in an interview leading up to the challenges, he was asked to predict the FIFA World Cup 2030 winners, which is to be held across Spain, Portugal & Morocco.
The Miami-based streamer replied with a team that many did not expect. Certainly not the pundits.
He stated,
I have to say Indonesia. There the talent in Indonesia is crazy! They are winning the 2030 World Cup. Y’all heard it from me first!
🚨| NEW: Speed predicts INDONESIA will win the 2030 World Cup 🤯🇮🇩 pic.twitter.com/abjKBpf0WZ
— Speedy HQ (@IShowSpeedHQ) July 24, 2025
This has now been much debated as a marketing ploy rather than a genuine prediction or pure ball knowledge.
Why?
Well, because for starters the Indonesian national football team is currently ranked around #118–119 in the FIFA Men’s World Rankings as of the July 2025 update, with approximately 1,154–1,155 points.
Even within Southeast Asia (AFF), they currently rank 4th, behind ASEAN rivals such as Thailand and Vietnam.
Secondly, and probably the most damning fact, Indonesia’s sole previous World Cup appearance was in 1938, when they played as Dutch East Indies.
Since then, they haven’t qualified.
But, in spite of these facts, what Speed just did was indeed a smooth marketing technique, which definitely isn’t going to hurt anyone.
Why again?
Well, Speed’s most successful stream in history, in fact, did happen in Indonesia when he visited the cities of Jakarta, Bali, and Yogyakarta.
He traveled to Indonesia as part of a Southeast Asia tour that also included stops in Malaysia, Cambodia, Thailand, the Philippines, and Vietnam.
His Indonesia stream was hosted in September 2024, during the latter part of his tour in Asia.
During this IRL stream from Indonesia, his viewership peaked at over 1.04 million concurrent live viewers, smashing his previous personal best from Thailand (600 K) and marking the first time an English-speaking streamer exceeded one million concurrents.
Speed burst down into tears when he saw his live count reaching above 1 million.
Even his video-on-demand (VOD) viewership of that Indonesia stream amassed over 20 million views in a day, far surpassing Speed’s usual VOD average (2–8 million).
Streaming analysts commented that his total watch time on Indonesia streams (across multiple days) exceeded that of his entire European tour, largely due to Indonesia’s large viewership base.
On 18 September 2024, his subscriber count on Youtube was about 30.2 million before the Jakarta stream began.
After that livestream and subsequent Indonesian streams, by 21 September, his subscriber total reached around 31.7 million, an overall gain of 1.5 million during the Indonesia leg of his tour.
The live stream was always done from a public spot, with hundreds of Indonesian fans surrounding him in person.
Speed visited Kuta Beach in Bali and interacted with locals and tourists. He also did the traditional Balinese dance during a live performance.
In Yogyakarta, he celebrated hitting 32 million subscribers by doing a bungee jump on stream. Here, he also visited temples (likely Borobudur or Prambanan) and tried local food (nasi gudeg, satay).
Now, this isn’t even the best part in terms of what Speed would want.
The best part is that Indonesia is the 4th largest country in this world, with over 275 million people.
23.18% of the population (or 64.16 million people) are aged 16–30, which is exactly Speed’s core content demographic: digitally native, active on YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, etc.
Additionally, Southeast Asia, particularly Indonesia, has among the highest mobile internet usage rates globally.
In fact, 77% of Indonesia’s entire population are active internet users (approx. 212 million) as of 2024.
Even if Speed manages to get 10% out of this 212 million-user market, it would be a huge win for the Miami-based streamer.
As soon as this video of the interview with Speed was posted on the internet, many fans poured in to give their takes and reactions.
One fan noticed this subtle marketing move by Speed and stated,
smart business move tbf
Another fan stated that somehow this also involved Oxford United, who are in the championship, as they had a couple of Indonesian-based players.
He stated,
Oxford have two (I think) Indonesian players; they got celebrated like kings on the pre-season tour and I’m pretty sure one of those players has more social media followers than most top players. it’s genuinely a very good business move from Speed.
Another fan was rather much in realistic vibes after Indonesia’s failed World Cup qualifications since 1938 and called out Speed for not being thoughtful with his take.
He stated,
They can’t even make it to the World Cup; Speed is such an ass-kisser.
Another fan simply applauded his genius tactic and stated,
He’s so smart. He’s engaged in farming; he knows Indonesia has a population of around 280 million and loves football. He’s a marketing genius.
Now then, onto the real question.
Can Indonesia really qualify for the FIFA World Cup 2030, in spite of Speed’s not-so-realistic and outrageous take?
The answer is yes, they can.
By finishing 4th in their group, Indonesia advanced to the fourth round of AFC qualification for the 2026 qualifiers.
This was after, under coach Shin Tae-yong, they progressed to the third round of AFC World Cup Qualification for the first time ever after strong performances in 2024.
Indonesia began the 2026 qualification process in the AFC first round, playing Brunei in a two-legged tie, which they finished with the scoreline of 12-0.
In the second round they were placed in Group F, competing against the Philippines, Vietnam, and Iraq.
They secured two wins over Vietnam (1–0 at home, 3–0 away) and finished as group runners-up, which earned them a historic qualification to the third round of Asian qualifiers, a first ever for the nation.
In the third round, they were drawn into a tough Group C, facing Japan, Australia, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, and China.
In this group they recorded a shock 2–0 win over Saudi Arabia at Gelora Bung Karno Stadium in November 2024, the country’s first-ever victory in the third round.
Later strong performances, including draws against Australia (0–0) and Bahrain (2–2), and a draw vs. Saudi Arabia meant that they amassed 6 points from 6 matches, finishing 4th in the table, a notable accomplishment given the competition level.
By finishing 4th in their group, Indonesia has now advanced to the fourth round of AFC qualification.
At this stage, only the group winners qualify directly for the World Cup; second-place teams enter a fifth-round playoff, then potentially inter-confederation playoff spots.
The qualified teams are Indonesia, Iraq, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and United Arab Emirates
This would mean that Indonesia will again have to cause upsets like beating the likes of Saudi Arabia and even Qatar.
But soon after their qualification in their third round, in early 2025, the Indonesian Football Association (PSSI) replaced Shin Tae-yong with former Dutch star Patrick Kluivert, targeting European-style tactics and leveraging diaspora talent to push for World Cup qualification.
Chairman Erick Thohir has publicly declared intentions to take Indonesia to the World Cup for the first time since 1938 and to crack the top 50 FIFA ranking by 2045, backed by reforms and naturalization policies, so things look hopeful for them.
With the introduction of European football tactics and gameplay via new manager Kluivert, who quite literally has been versed with the Barcelona style of play, being an ex-Barca player himself, Indonesian fans can hope that better days are truly coming and on their way.
If they qualify for the World Cup qualifiers of 2026, that would mean that after almost 100 years they would return to football’s grandest stage, and that would only give them more confidence, financial support, experience, and other positives, which will help them qualify for even the 2030 World Cup.
And maybe then, Speed’s outrageous take or prediction might finally come true.
